Retail catches a falling knife as NSE shares dive

Late entrants into the National Exchange's Stock (NSE) unlisted shares have been singed by a steep correction in its stock price over the past two weeks, compounding losses since July's record highs.

- Ram Sahgal

The fall has hurt retail shareholders the most, whose numbers quadrupled in the three months through June.

The selloff has been driven by two concerns: market regulator Sebi weighing the future of weekly index options contracts-Nifty and Sensex options-in light of the huge losses faced by individual investors, and diminished visibility on NSE's listing this fiscal year.

The prices of NSE's unlisted shares have fallen 7.3% over the past two weeks to around 1,900-1,940 from 2,050 on 11 September, when Mint reported that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) could soon issue a consultation paper on extending the tenure of index options contracts from weekly to possibly fortnightly.

Sebi's concern stems from its latest study showing that the average loss of 8.7 million individual traders rose to *1.1 lakh in FY25 from 86,728 each in FY24, largely due to weekly options trading.

The recent slide follows a sharper 16% drop from record highs of 2,400-2,450 in July, after hopes dimmed for the country's largest stock exchange listing this year.